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Colorado Rockies: Four trade targets from the Tampa Bay Rays

By Noah Yingling

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 07: Kevin Kiermaier #39 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a three run home run in the third inning during game one of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians at Tropicana Field on July 07, 2021 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 07: Kevin Kiermaier #39 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a three run home run in the third inning during game one of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians at Tropicana Field on July 07, 2021 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /
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Yandy Díaz of the Tampa Bay Rays should be a target for the Colorado Rockies
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – OCTOBER 11: Yandy Diaz #2 of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrates after throwing out a runner in the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox during Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park on October 11, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Yandy Díaz could be an asset for the Colorado Rockies at the top of the order.

Back in October when we looked at one trade target the Colorado Rockies should look at from each team, we chose Yandy Díaz as the one Tampa Bay Rays player for a few reasons.

Díaz, 30, plays both first and third base and he has played a handful of games at other positions in the majors and minors so he would check off the versatility check box for the Rockies.

In the lineup, he would be good at the top of the lineup because he gets on base at a good clip. In 335 games in the majors between the Rays and Cleveland, Díaz has an on-base percentage of .359. For the 2021 Rockies, that would have been second-highest to C.J. Cron among players with at least 250 plate appearances.

The main two issues with him, though, are his power and defense. As we said in October, Díaz has biceps the size of Popeye, he hasn’t shown power at the MLB level. Part of that is due to his very high groundball percentage. Since 2019, his groundball percentage is 53.4 percent, according to FanGraphs. That is eighth-highest among players with at least 1000 plate appearances since then. The aforementioned Kevin Kiermaier is third and current Colorado Rockies outfielder Raimel Tapia is #1 at 59.7 percent.

Defensively, Díaz is not great, particularly at third base, which is where he would play in the field most of the time if he was with the Rockies. His best defensive spot is at first base but for the Rockies, C.J. Cron is already occupying it. Díaz could switch between first and DH with Cron but the Rockies may not be willing to do that with the DH spot, assuming it comes to the NL in 2022.

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